Jessica L. Sousa

Photo of Jessica Sousa
Policy Analyst
Boston Office

Education

M.S.W. in social work, Boston University; M.P.H. in health service management, Boston University; B.A. in psychology, University of Pennsylvania

Overview

Jessica Sousa (she/her) is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. She has experience in qualitative data collection and analysis, project management, and direct patient care. Since coming to RAND, Sousa has served as project manager on several complex projects culminating in deliverables submitted to federal sponsors in support of reports to Congress: one to evaluate telementoring activities designed to build the capacity of primary care providers in rural and underserved settings, and another to assess federal investments in health services and primary care research. She has experience with quantitative and qualitative research methods, including recruiting for and facilitating semi-structured interviews and focus groups; coding and analyzing qualitative data; screening, extracting, and synthesizing information for systematic literature reviews; and compiling quantitative and qualitative data for project reports, posters, briefings, and manuscripts. Sousa has managed numerous federally- and privately-funded contracts and grants, overseeing quality assurance, data management, and regulatory review processes; managing project budgets, deliverables, and timelines; and coordinating technical assistance and other multi-site project activities. She is a licensed certified social worker in Massachusetts and has worked with adults living with HIV/AIDS, serious mental illness, and substance use disorder. Her research interests include policies to address racial/ethnic disparities in health, interventions to target social determinants of health such as racism and poverty, and telehealth policy and implementation.

Sousa holds dual Master's degrees in clinical social work and health policy & management from Boston University and a Bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Research Focus

Selected Publications

Uscher-Pines, L., Sousa, J., Jones, M., Whaley, C., Perrone, C., McCullough, C. and Ober, A.J., "Telehealth Use Among Safety-Net Organizations in California During the COVID-19 Pandemic," JAMA, 2021

Uscher-Pines, L., Sousa, J., Zachrison, K., Guzik, A., Schwamm, L., & Mehrotra, A. , "What Drives Greater Assimilation of Telestroke in Emergency Departments?" Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases, 29(12), 2020

Uscher-Pines, L., Sousa, J., Raja, P., Barnett, M., Mehrotra, A., & Huskamp, H.A. , "Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder during COVID-19: Experiences of Clinicians Transitioning to Telemedicine," Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 118, 2020

Uscher-Pines, L., Sousa, J., Raja, P., Mehrotra, A., Barnett, M., & Huskamp, H.A., "Suddenly becoming a ‘virtual doctor’: Experiences of psychiatrists transitioning to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic," Psychiatric Services, 2020

Walter, A. W., Morocho, C., Chassler, D., Sousa, J., De Jesús, D., Longworth-Reed, L., Stewart, E., Guzman, G., Sostre, J., Linsenmeyer, A., & Lundgren, L. , "Evaluating culturally and linguistically integrated care for Latinx adults with mental and substance use disorders," Ethnicity & Health, 2019

McBain, R.K., Sousa, J.L., Rose, A.J., Baxi, S.M., Faherty, L.J., & Fischer, S.H., "Impact of Project ECHO and ECHO-like models of medical tele-education: A systematic review," Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2019

Martinez, L. S., Lundgren, L., Walter, A. W., Sousa, J., Tahoun, N., Steketee, G., Hahm, H., Mueser, K.T., Krull, I., Do, D.L., & Saitz, R., "Behavioral Health, Primary Care Integration, and Social Work’s Role in Improving Health Outcomes in Communities of Color: A Systematic Review," Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 2019

Trinh, N.H., Youn, S.J., Sousa, J., Regan, S., Bedoya, C.A., Chang, T.E., Fava, M., Yeung, A. , "Using electronic medical records to determine the diagnosis of clinical depression," International journal of medical informatics, 2011

Publications